


Not Yet

by tuppenny



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: :O that is not a tag I ever thought I'd put on something I wrote but here we are..., F/M, Hand Jobs, O_o, What am I doing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2019-01-20 21:54:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12442572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuppenny/pseuds/tuppenny
Summary: Chapter 9 from my Ties That Bind fic, but with nearly 600 extra words of smut :O





	Not Yet

**Author's Note:**

> Enough people asked for this that I added more. So now it's got almost 600 words of smut instead of the original 300. Look what you've done. I hope you're pleased with yourselves. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I have never written smut before and it probably shows but I don't know bc like I said I HAVE NEVER WRITTEN SMUT BEFORE
> 
> can you tell I'm nervous ab posting this -_-

“It’s hard to picture Race and Albert being anything but newsies,” Katherine said, shaking her head as she and Jack exited the Metropolitan Museum of Art on a breezy Sunday afternoon.

“Yeah,” Jack said, catching her arm as she slipped slightly on the steps in front of the museum. “I’m proud of them, though. I know how hard it was for me to see myself doin’ somethin’ other than sellin’ papes. Even when you know you’re too old to be a newsboy, moving out of the lodging house and starting a new job is still a leap.”

“Those boys always land on their feet, though,” she said, smiling up into his solemn face. “Getting in on the ground floor of auto racing will be a good fit for Race, I think. And it sounds like Albert’s already doing well as a messenger boy.”

“They seem happy,” Jack agreed, scratching at the back of his head. “Race is getting’ paid to be fast and reckless, an’ Albert’s got exactly the kind of cool head you need if you’re deliverin’ what might be awful news.” He adjusted his hand on her hip. “I’m real glad they decided to split a room, too—knowin’ they’re keepin’ an eye out for each other means I don’t have to check in on ‘em all the time. I’m not worryin’ about them as much as I thought I would, an’ I have to say, it’s nice.”

Katherine looked dreamily at the cloudless sky. “You take such good care of those boys. You’re going to be a wonderful father someday.”

It was an offhand remark on her part, but Jack flushed beet red and pressed a quick kiss to the side of her forehead. She smiled and admired the summer dresses and dapper suits of the people they passed on the sidewalk.

They walked in silence for a block or so before he blurted out, “You really wanna have kids? I know you think you do, but I mean, it’s not abstract anymore—it’s not just ‘yeah I want a boy an’ a girl an’ I’m gonna name ‘em Mick an’ Molly an’ dress ‘em up real cute,’ ya know? It’s—it’s nearer now, ain’t it? It’s somethin’ that… well, it could happen. Soon. By this time next year, even.” Jack pulled his hand away from her waist to fiddle with his cap. “Just think, next summer we could be walkin’ down this very same street, but instead of holdin’ hands with me, you could be pushin’ a baby carriage with your child in it. Your _child_ , Ace. An’ I know you knows this, but… if you have kids, you’ll be havin’ kids with… with _me_. An that… are ya… are ya sure that’s somethin’ you want? Little screamin’ babies with my ugly mug an’ your willful sass?”

She frowned. “What makes you think they’d look like you, huh?”

“My rotten stubbornness an’ your sweet smile, then,” he said, rolling his eyes. “That ain’t the point, though, an’ you knows it.”

She nodded and sighed. “I know.” she rubbed her temples. “I _do_ want children, Jack; I never lied about that. I just don’t know _when_ I want children. There’s so much I still want to do and see and be, and I can’t picture doing that with children in tow. I just… it’s just… I mean, right now the idea of a baby is… well…” she bit her lip and looked up at him. “It scares me.”

His worried expression softened. “Me, too.”

She brightened a little. “Really? You’re not just saying that? Because I want to have kids with you, I really do. I want two or three little versions of you jumping on our couch and waking us up far too early so that they can cuddle with us and racing each other down the sidewalk and spilling milk all over the kitchen table.” She laughed. “They’ll all have your dark hair and your laughing eyes and they’ll be the rowdiest, most perfect things we’ve ever seen." 

He grinned, and Katherine didn’t even try to stop herself from pulling him close and kissing the dimple in his cheek. “I dunno, macushla. It’s gonna be hard for some kid ta be more perfect than you.”

She shoved him playfully. “Our kids will be the most perfect people on God’s green earth, you wait and see.” 

“Emphasis on wait,” he said, his eyes sparkling.

“Yes.” She squeezed his hand and then shot him a nervous glance out of the corner of her eye. He seemed relaxed and good-humored, so she took a deep breath and went for it. “Um, actually, that… that kind of brings me to something else I’ve been wanting to talk to you about…”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, um, can we… can we find somewhere private, maybe?” 

“Geez, Ace, I thought we just decided we were waitin’ on all that!”

She glared at him. “Honestly, Jack Kelly, you are the most _im_ possible boy!”

He snorted. “Ohhh, darlin’, that ain’t gonna work on me anymore; you just admitted you wanna have a baby with me,” he smirked, ruffling her hair. “Let’s escape into Central Park. Ya can always find a quiet spot in there.” 

She nodded and reached for his hand again, tugging him through the next entrance she saw. After wandering down dirt pathways and past crowded benches, they finally found a swath of grass that was empty and set back from the Sunday afternoon foot traffic. Katherine plopped down without any grace whatsoever and pulled Jack down after her. They took a moment to settle themselves across from each other on the prickly grass, both of them ending up cross-legged and leaning in close.

“So tell me about the bee in your bonnet,” Jack said, nudging her knee with his foot and giving her a rakish smile.

She screwed her eyes shut for a moment and gathered her courage. _Spit it out, Katherine. This is something you have to talk about, and you have to do it before the wedding._ Long _before the wedding._ She looked him straight in the eyes and burst out, “Jack, I… I’m a virgin.” The laughter fled from Jack’s face, and Katherine’s mouth went dry.

He blinked a few times and rubbed at his nose. “Okay? I mean, I figured as much, Ace.” 

“No, I mean… I’m not sure you understand. The farthest I’ve ever gone has been with you. I’ve never… I’ve never even been with anyone else, not seriously, not the way we’ve… not the things we’ve done,” she whispered, her cheeks heating up. “I only kissed two boys before you, and that was all I’d tried, and it wasn’t even very good…” She bit her bottom lip and worried it back and forth between her teeth. “I’ve been muddling through everything this whole time and I’m sure you noticed and it was kind of you not to say anything but now we’re going to be _married_ and we’re supposed to be… we’re supposed to…” She covered her face in her hands and squeaked, “I don’t know how any of it works, and you’re going to hate me because I don’t know how to please you!”

If Katherine had trusted herself to open her eyes and peek through her fingers, she would have seen an expression on Jack’s face that was so tender it might have caused her to melt right then and there. But she didn’t, and so Jack had to speak. “It’s okay, darlin’.” He reached out a warm hand and stroked her knee. “I’ll help ya figure it out. I _like_ that I get to show you these things, you know? It makes it all better for me, somehow. An’ all we’ve done so far…” He took a shuddering breath and then whistled. “You’ve been amazing. Just… phenomenal. You even make me wish I’d waited, ‘cause you’re just… there ain’t nobody who can hold a candle to you, Ace. Experience or no, your hands on my body, your lips against mine, your tongue, your teeth, your gorgeous little fingers, I—” He gulped and bit the back of his hand to calm down. “Damn it, you’ve got me all riled up just _thinkin_ ’ about it, Ace, ain’t nobody else ever affected me like that.” 

Her hands began to move slowly down from her face. “For sure?”

“For sure.” 

“But I don’t… I really don’t know the first thing about… you know…”

Jack smiled fondly and reached to hold her hands, rubbing his calloused thumbs back and forth across her wrists. “It’s a process, love, and it’s different for everyone.” He puffed out a laugh. “Heck, it’s different _with_ everyone. So we’ll learn this together, okay? We’ll learn _us_  together. An’ we’ll take it slow, real slow—if it takes a couple weeks, that’s okay. Heck, if it takes longer, that’s okay. There’s no need to rush; we’ve got time. We’ll figure out what works and what doesn’t, I’ll get plenty of chances to become acquainted with every last, little, delicious bit of ya, an’ I’m gonna make sure it feels just as good for you as for me, yeah? An’ sure, we’ll make mistakes and laugh about things and feel embarrassed, but that’s all completely normal. Happens to everyone. Just remember, Ace, when I get you out of that wedding dress, I guarantee that I’m not gonna be thinkin’ about your experience or inexperience or what I’m hopin’ for in our honeymoon suite or any other girl in the world—all I’ll be able ta think when I see you like that is how goshdamn much I want you. You ain’t got nothin’ ta be worried about in the bedroom, Ace. You’s gonna be perfect.” 

She felt a goofy smile spread across her face, and she flung herself into his arms in order to hide it. “You mean it?”

“Of course,” he said, stroking her hair.

She nuzzled her face down into his shoulder and mumbled, “But how do we… how do we do all that and not have kids?” She felt him hold his breath for a moment and was grateful that that was his only reaction. She’d been putting this conversation off for months, knowing it wasn’t going to be easy for either of them; not for her, having to admit her fears and inexperience and talk about… _it_ , and not for Jack, having to adjust his expectations for their wedding night and realize that she was going to fail miserably at fulfilling her wifely duties and that he was going to need to serve as the sole voice of knowledge on all of the ins and outs of what married couples are supposed to do. She just hoped that his held breath didn’t mean that he was as clueless about this as she was, because she was _not_ getting pregnant any time soon. She’d rather keep things as they had been for the past year or so, dealing with the constant undercurrent of frustration at all of their near-misses and the physical ache of knowing there was more to him that she couldn’t have, than risk having a child grow inside her. The very thought of having a baby, a real, honest to goodness _baby_ , made her blood run cold. She wasn’t ready.

Jack started breathing again. “Well.” He blew out a short puff of air. “We’ve got options. There’s stuff I can do, it’s, um… they’ve got these rubber goods at the drugstore, I, uh, they’s still allowed, so… so I’ll get some. An’ then I don’t… I don’t know as much about the things you can do, ‘cause it’s been a while since I’ve needed, to, an’ they keeps changin’ all that, anyway, like what you can get and where an’ what’s legal an’…” He tugged his cap back and forth with one hand. “Think ya’d feel comfortable askin’ Miss Medda about it? She’d know. Or, uh, I can ask her, if ya want.” He blushed bright red at the terrifying thought of asking Miss Medda to explain the finer points of female contraception to him. But he’d do it if he had to. He’d fidget through the whole lecture, he was sure, but at least she’d be kind and straightforward about it.

Katherine’s stomach churned. “I can do it,” she whispered. “It’d be good for me to learn these things myself.” She licked her lips, trying to bring some moisture back into her dry mouth, and injected a little levity into her voice. “And while I’m there I can take the chance to, uh, to get some tips from her about other things, too. Maybe I’ll surprise you a little come July.”

She felt a laugh rumble through his chest. “You’re always surprising me, love.”

“Good.” She pressed a kiss to his neck and rubbed his back, shivering slightly at the feel of the taut muscles hidden under his dress shirt. He returned her kiss, tilting his head slightly to press his hot lips to the back of her neck. “Stop it, Jack, you’re going to make me lose my head,” she said sternly. 

“As if you didn’t start it,” he mumbled hazily, running his hands down her sides and reaching ever lower. “I’m gonna do unspeakable things to you next month, Ace, I’m gonna have you callin’ out my name an’ beggin’ for mercy…” He pressed his nose into the hollow at the base of her skull, and she thrummed at the pressure and the vibration of his lips. Suddenly, his hands flew back up to tug at the neckline of her dress, pulling it sideways so that he could kiss and suck at her shoulder, then her clavicle, and then push her head from his shoulder so that he could begin fumbling with the buttons on her blouse. 

“ _Jack_ ,” she said, leaning back out of his reach. “Not here.”

He tilted his head back and groaned. “I know, I know, but all this waiting is killing me,” he said, grinding his teeth. “I think I’m gonna burst.” He laid back in the grass and pillowed his head on his hands, not even trying to hide his arousal. His voice was rough as he said, “Don’t you know this _hurts_ , Ace?”

She watched him pensively, listening to him pant and trying to ignore the waves of heat that were spreading through her at the sight of him sprawled out in front of her, completely undone. A wicked gleam entered her eyes. “I could maybe… do you want some help?”

He shot back upright, his mouth fell open, and his ragged breaths sounded like someone yanking on a rusty chain, jerking and shuddering and struggling for control. She could tell he wanted to say something, to tell her yes, to eat her whole, to choke on his want for her and his need for a release, but he was so far gone that speech was no longer possible. That was alright, though, because the unfocused look in his eyes told her all she needed to know. 

“Okay,” she said firmly, pushing up her sleeves and leaning back over him, moving to sit between his splayed legs. “You’re going to have to show me what to do, you know.”

He nodded, his tongue thick in his mouth, blood roaring in his ears, and reached desperately for her hand.

It didn’t take more than a moment for him to undo the buttons on the front of his pants and tug her hand inside and around and… Katherine’s eyes widened. “ _Oh_ ,” she gasped, startled and unsure. Jack just moaned, his jaw slack, the buzz in his head so loud that he wasn’t even sure where he was anymore. She blinked, shifted uneasily, and then gathered herself to follow his lead. _Pull it together, Katherine. You want to do this for him, don’t you? So do it right._

She adjusted her grip and he sobbed, overwhelmed by how unbelievably _good_ this felt, at the fierceness of his need for her and the thrill of having this be real, of having this actually happen, of having her _here_. She watched in fascination as his breaths came quicker and quicker and his legs began to spasm. Even as her hand moved, she directed most of her conscious attention to the rest of him, drinking in the clench and twitch of his muscles, the uncontrolled flutter of his eyes, the incongruous sweetness of seeing him so vulnerable and raw. 

He finished quickly, so quickly that he might have been embarrassed by it were it not for the Cheshire cat smile on Katherine’s face and the wave of pleasure that radiated through his limbs and left him weak and warm. He flopped back in the grass and fumbled to redo his buttons.

“Let me,” she said saucily, reaching towards his hips.

“Nuh uh,” he groaned, twisting sideways. “I can’t have your hands anywhere near me right now.”   

She giggled, oh so pleased at seeing him lying limp and overstimulated in the grass. _She’d_ done that to him. _She_ had unmanned him. “Maybe I’ll be okay at this whole marriage thing after all,” she teased.

He moaned and rolled over onto his stomach, his chest heaving against the ground. “I’ll say,” he gasped. His voice was shaky, and she watched with a smile as he tried to bring himself back to reality by clenching and unclenching his fists around the spiky grass. “Damn, Ace,” he growled, grinding his hips into the ground. “ _Damn_.” 

“You know that I can’t cook,” she said abruptly.

“…what?” Jack was still so dazed and muzzy from what they’d just done that he wasn’t at all sure that he’d heard her correctly. He turned his head sideways and lifted it just enough so that he could see her out of the corner of his eye.

“I can’t cook. I ruin everything I put on the stove. I’ve nearly burned my apartment down three times.”

“ _What?_ ”

“I know, you were only there for the one, and I didn’t want to tell you about the others… it’s embarrassing. But you won’t want me anywhere near the kitchen. I can’t make you dinner. I can’t send you to work with the beautiful, homemade lunches all the other husbands have.”

Slowly, gingerly, reluctantly, Jack dredged up the strength to pull himself back into a sitting position. He blinked at her, confused.

“And the only person you’re getting from this marriage is me,” she continued. “I can’t give you a second family. My father is not going to invite you on fishing trips upstate, my mother is not going to introduce you at gatherings as ‘the son she always wanted but never had,’ my brothers are not going to take you out on the town to drink and smoke and raise hell, my sisters are not going to ask you to meet their beaus and pass judgment.” She felt her limbs growing leaden and her voice growing cold. “I’m all you’re getting, Jack. Just me. No family. No parents. No support. No connections. Just me and a generous helping of my family’s fierce disapproval. Let me be perfectly clear: if you married anyone else in this city, you’d get a stake in the family business, a seat at the table on Thanksgiving, and a gaggle of siblings and cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents all fawning over your every move. You’re not getting that with me. Not a single bit of that. Marry me, and you’ll get me and a front-row seat to my parents’ bitter disappointment. That’s it. Is that what you want? Are you sure that’s what you want your life to be?”

He scooted back towards her, not caring that he was almost certainly grinding permanent grass and dirt stains into his corduroys. “You think I care about all that?”

“You should. Wives are supposed to cook for their husbands. I can’t. And even if I could, I probably wouldn’t. Not the way I’m supposed to. And you have _always_ wanted a family, Jack. A _big_ family. Ever since the first time we talked, really talked, it’s been incredibly obvious that losing your parents shattered your heart, and you’ve been searching for that closeness ever since. All of that Santa Fe nonsense was just a smokescreen. You wanted a family so badly it hurt, so badly that you couldn’t let anyone know that’s what you wanted in case someone told you what you were sure was true: That you’d never have one.”

Jack’s brow furrowed, and he frowned.

“But you _can_ have one, Jack. Just not with me. I can’t give you a family; I can only give you myself. And me? Just me? That’s not enough for you. You deserve more. You deserve better. You deserve all the rowdy cousins and drunk uncles and doting mothers and responsible little sisters you can stomach. And I can’t give them to you.”

Jack shook his head slowly and looked at the ground. “No. No, you can’t.” Then he reached out to hold her hands and fixed her steely gaze with one of his own. “But you can give me you. And that’s what I want. We’ll make our own family, Ace. A family of two is still a family, and when we have kids it’ll be bigger, and that’s enough for me. That’s more than I ever dreamed I’d have.”

She raised an eyebrow. “But you could have more.”

“But I couldn’t have better.” 

She smiled slightly, but persisted. “Have you thought about this, though? All you’re giving up to be with me?”

He laughed. “And here I thought the problem was the other way around!” She rolled her eyes and he raised his hands to ward off a scolding. “Okay, okay. I see what you’re saying, I really do, but trust me, Ace. I have thought about it. I promise. And I don’t need a woman who can cook, and I don’t want a wife who spends time making my meals when she could be out chasin’ stories and savin’ the world. I don’t need someone else’s extended family, and I don’t want cousins and uncles who won’t love me half as well as you an’ the boys do. I’d say Race can fill in for any number of drunk uncles, Crutchie’s better’n any doting mother, Albert an’ Finch an’ Elmer an’ the rest are the best, loudest, rowdiest cousins I could find, an’ Davey an’ Specs are about as responsible of sisters as you could dream up. An’ then on top of that I get you as my wife? I get to have sons an’ daughters with your beautiful laugh an’ your tough spine an’ your soft heart?” He shook his head in disbelief. “If I could go back in time and tell myself what was ahead of me, how someday I’d have a family like the one I’ve got now, I’d never have believed it. You and the boys are better than anything I could’ve imagined, Ace, I swear it—an’ you best believe I spent an awful lot of time as a kid dreamin’ up all sorts of families that might want me someday. So you think a couple of kitchen fires and some snooty parents are gonna scare me off of that? Of you? No way. You’re stuck with me, Katherine Plumber, ‘cause now that I know you exist I ain’t never lettin’ you go.” He chucked her chin up and raised an eyebrow. “You got that?”

“I got it,” she said, smiling shyly. “Okay.” She stood, brushed her skirts off, and extended a hand to help pull him up off the ground. “Do you have time to grab dinner with me before work?”

“I always have time for food,” Jack said fervently. “Jacobi’s?”

Katherine laughed. “There are other restaurants in this city, you know.” 

“Yeah, but if it ain’t broke…”

“Jacobi’s it is.”

**Author's Note:**

> Oh dear heavens what have I done I hope you guys like this (cue freakout)


End file.
